Comparing & Contrasting United States vs. Canada

  Bordered by each other, the United States and Canada are twins from Mother North America. People in both countries speak English as an official language. However, even twins may have some kind of differences that enable others to distinguish between them. So do the United States and Canada. While the United States and Canada share similarities in geographical conditions to attract immigrants, the variety of cuisine they eat, and the access to health care, they differ in geographical climates, native foods, and efficiency of health care.

It is not difficult to discover the similarities in geography between the United States and Canada because they are both located in North America. The sizes of these two countries are nearly identical: the United States has a total area of 3,794,083 square miles, and Canada has a total area of 3,855,103 square miles. The eastern boundary of both countries is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Both the United States and Canada were first settled by Europeans and were once colonies of the British Empire during the Age of Colonization. Due to the similarities in their geographical condition, both countries consist of populations that come primarily from European immigrants and have instituted policies which allow emigration to increase their population.

            Although the styles of cooking and serving might be different, the types of food Americans and Canadians eat are quite similar. The most representative example is chain restaurants which have penetrated into cities of both the United States and Canada. Popular chain restaurants, such as McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, serve hamburgers, sandwiches, and fried chickens, which are the common food that people eat in both countries. The United States and Canada not only have similar fast food, but they also share the diversity in the variety of cuisine they have. Since their population consists of immigrants from all over the world, immigrants brought over a variety of food that was unique and distinctive to their own culture. Whether you are at Times Square of New York or Toronto Eaton Centre, you will always be able to find Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Jewish, and Caribbean food.

            Despite so many people favor the Canadian health care system over the American one because Canada offers Free Health Care Program, both the United States and Canada, in fact, have problems regarding the access to health care. According to studies, statistics showed that 40% of Americans do not have health insurance, and in Canada, approximately 5% of Canadians have not been able to find a regular doctor. A cross-country study showed that there was a correlation between immigrant status and access to health care in both the United States and Canada. The study found that in both countries, immigrants had worse access to health care than non-immigrants. Immigrants in the United States were less likely to have a regular medical doctor and annual physical examination compared with native-born Americans; immigrants in Canada were less likely to have Pap tests compared with native-born Canadians.

            Although the geographies of the United States and Canada have similarities, they also have vast differences. One difference is that different places in the United States are called "states" and different places in Canada are called "provinces". The climate of the United States is more varied, with nine different climate types, whereas the climate of Canada is divided to temperate in the South and subarctic or arctic in the North. The United States also has more natural disasters than Canada. The United States has tsunamis, forest fires, mudslides, flooding, deathly hurricanes, and tornadoes. Canada, on the other hand, has permafrost in the North and a lot of cyclonic storms by mountainous regions.

            The United States and Canada have very different cuisines. Cuisine in the United States is infiltrated in great depths by various cultures. Almost every meal the average person eats has at least one thing that is from a different culture. Canada eats a lot it's own native food such as butter tarts, which is a tart with butter, sugar and eggs. They also eat Beaver tails. The "regular" American bacon is just fried strips, whereas the Canadian form of bacon is round pieces that are more like ham.

            Through examining the geographies in the United States and Canada, we discovered the similar reason for the coming of immigrants and the varying climates and natural disasters. By discussing the food people eat in the United States and Canada, we found that although they share the diversity in food cultures, Canadians tend to eat more of their native food. After comparing and contrasting of health care systems in both countries, we found the similarity regarding the access to healthcare and the difference in efficiency of the health care systems in the United States and Canada.

Event follow up

Schmitt's Family Farm holds fall activities every year. They are located in Melville, New York. There are daytime activities that include pumpkin picking, a corn maze, hay rides, a hay pyramid (which is the largest in Long Island), farm animals, and many more. They also have night time activities. There is a haunted house and a haunted corn maze.

The Haunted House and Corn Maze open up on October 1st and stay open throughout the whole month of October. They close the day after Halloween, November 1st. It costs seventeen dollars for the Haunted House and eleven dollars for the Haunted Corn Maze. One could also opt to do both for a combined price of twenty-three dollars. On their website they offer a coupon that subtracts three dollars from the price of the combo ticket. They are open Fridays and Saturdays from seven at night until twelve in the morning and on Sundays from seven at night until eleven at night.

I attended this event on October 7th, 2011. I chose to do both the Haunted House and the Haunted Corn Maze. The lines were relatively short. This was a plus because it was a very cold night. I first waited on line for the Haunted House. While on line, people dressed in scary costumes came up to the anxious people waiting and scared them. The scariest person I saw was covered in grass and he really scared me because I turned around and he was staring at me. I asked him if he liked working at Schmitt's Family Farm. His reply was "Yes, because its very fun to get a reaction out of people. You never know what they are going to do or say. I actually had a teenage boy in tears earlier in the night. He definitely had one of the most entertaining reactions out of my four years working here." When I entered the Haunted House, there were strobe lights and as soon as I walked in a woman dressed as a zombie bride popped out at me. Then, I walked through a room of clowns. The next room was a room full of heads hanging from chains that you had to push through. The next room was a very tight space where you had to squeeze through. It was very funny because everyone was trying to get through at once because a man dressed as the grim reaper was chasing you. I actually wound up falling because I was so scared. In every room you walked into there were people popping out at you. The whole Haunted House took about fifteen minutes altogether to complete. On both the fun and scary scale I would rate it a 10/10. After exiting the Haunted House I asked one of the ticket collectors why it was not that crowded. His reply was "The farm gets much more crowded as we get closer to Halloween because more and more people are in the spirit. The workers are even more in the spirit. I would definitely say its better to come towards the end of October because people get much more into it."

After the Haunted House, I got on line for the Haunted Corn Maze. The line was also very short. While waiting on line, I was also scared by workers in costumes. The same grass man from the Haunted House line scared me. However, another person dressed as a dead clown scared me even more than the grass man. This is because I am terrified of clowns. After getting over the initial fright, I asked him what made him take this job. His reply was, "I always loved scaring people when I was a kid. Halloween was my favorite holiday because it is the national holiday of being scared. I figured, why not do what I love and get paid for it, too". I then asked him how they decide which costumes they wear. He said "There is a big room full of costumes and you get to pick which one you want. You are also welcomed to buy your own costume, as long as it is scary. It also must be approved by the moderators of the farm". I asked him also if there was any cons to the job. He said "The only thing I dislike a little bit about this job is that it can get very cold. Even with this huge costume on, I am freezing. What all the workers like to do is start a big bon fire and sit by it. It keeps us warmer while we are not in the House or Maze". When entering the maze, there was another room with strobe lights. After that, you walk out and you are in a real corn maze. There is actually real corn that can be picked. However, this is against the rules of the Corn Maze. there are people hiding inside the corn that pop out at you. There are also people with real chain saws that chase you. There is a bridge that is over water that you must walk through. It was very wobbly and a scary experience. The whole corn maze was also around fifteen minutes. It was much scarier than the house in my opinion because of the chainsaws. You also had to run a lot more. At the end of the maze, somebody chased me for around thirty feet with a chainsaw. I asked him if the chainsaws were real and he said "Yes but no one has ever gotten hurt from one". I also asked if anyone ever fell off the bridge and into the water. He said, "It has never happened before, but, if they did, it would not be that bad because the water is very shallow. The worst thing about it is they would be really cold and dirty".

I would suggest this event to anyone who loves getting scared. It was not expensive at all and was an all around great time. It is a good idea to dress warmly so you can fully enjoy yourself without being agitated about the cold. Their parking lot is closely convenient to the event so there is not a long distance to walk. Food and drinks are offered. They also have souvenirs you can buy to remember your time at Schmitt's Family Farm. A number of porter potties are right outside the premises so you can relieve yourself quickly if needed. This event was a good time and I would go again.